By way of the employment of hardenable steel varieties, the wall thicknesses of the sheets used may be further reduced in order for specific and desired strengths to be achieved, such that potentials for saving weight are opened up, for example, in the automotive industry. In hot forming, the semi-finished products, for examples cut-to-size blanks and sheets are heated to temperatures above the AC1 temperature point and fed to the forming tool. However, on account of the high forming temperature, the inherent rigidity of the blank is reduced in such a manner that bending arises in particular in the case of minor wall thicknesses and large-area semi-finished products or blanks, respectively, potentially leading to issues during conveying of the blanks. This may lead to significant losses in production in particular in the case of automated conveying, when said blanks seize due to bending during conveying. Various solutions addressing this problem are known from the prior art. It is thus known from the European patent application EP 2 457 673 A1 for a rigidity-increasing structure to be incorporated into the blank by hot stamping. However, the differentials in wall thickness which result therefrom also lead to the creation of regions having a more strongly reduced wall thickness, such that additional issues in terms of unwanted bending in the regions having a particularly minor wall thickness arise. Attempting to introduce a structure into the sheet without modifying the wall thickness does indeed lead to the problem in terms of regions having a reduced wall thickness being solved. However, it has proven to be altogether disadvantageous for the subsequent hot-forming process that the incorporated structures have to be deformed or flattened again during hot forming. On account thereof, the forming behavior deteriorates and the degrees of forming which are possible are reduced. The German laid open publication DE 101 28 200 A1 for example discloses an incorporation of pleats which are oriented in the direction of conveying and which serve as a bearing surface of the blank during conveying of the latter, on the one hand, and are conjointly formed during hot forming, on the other hand. Here too, it is the intention that the pleats once they have been incorporated are flattened in the pressing tool which is considered to be altogether disadvantageous for the subsequent forming of the blank.